


More Than Words

by kimuracarter



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: M/M, Prompt Fic, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-14
Updated: 2011-02-14
Packaged: 2017-10-30 17:57:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/334518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimuracarter/pseuds/kimuracarter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cut off during an away mission, Jim receives messages from Bones that go from friendly ... to something else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	More Than Words

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Star Trek or its characters; I make no profit from this work of fiction. 
> 
> Written for this prompt: _#35 - TEXT ME: An away mission gone wrong, and the landing party that includes Jim is stranded on the planet that they're exploring. On the ship, the crew tries to get them back/waits out the natural phenomena that is impeding their return, etc., but it's taking forever (hours/days). Meanwhile Bones writes a series of messages to Jim, more to calm his nerves than anything because he can't get stinking drunk, and he's almost certain that they won't get through to Jim anyway. They start out as encouraging missives, but as time passes and he doesn't receive any response back, his messages get more personal in nature, revealing his true feelings for his best friend. Jim is getting them, but for some reason his responses aren't getting returned. The writer can decide if Jim is aware of this or not._

The last message Jim Kirk had been able to send up to the Enterprise was that they had found shelter from the bizarre electrical storm, and their party had a few minor injuries. Once the storm had closed in, they could still receive messages from the Enterprise, but their outgoing messages were not getting through the planet’s atmosphere. They would have to wait until the storm passed. According to the planet’s ambassadors with whom they were traveling, it could be days. Weeks.

Jim wasn’t overly worried; it was more an inconvenience than anything. The cave they were in was huge and had access to water that they could convert to be drinkable. They had enough supplies to hold out, especially since the Avutachesans showed them edible plants that grew in the darkness of the cave. They had the proper equipment to scan everything and just enough medical supplies to care for the injured crew members. Kirk had instructed the away team to be careful inside the cave; they couldn’t really afford any additional injuries.

It had been five days since they had gone into the cave, and Jim had adapted a daily routine. In the morning, he would check in with the officers he had assigned to supplies, medical, communications, and exploration before checking in on the comfort of the ambassadors. Afterwards, he would usually lead a small team to explore the cave, looking for another exit.

In the afternoon, he would personally check in with everyone, carefully monitoring for signs of cabin fever and keeping spirits up. Some of the crew had even managed to cobble together makeshift games of checkers and chess.

In the evenings, Kirk made sure that the whole group ate together. Around that time, the messages from the Enterprise came through Even though they weren’t sure their words were getting through, the crew above them continued to send messages, for which Kirk was immensely grateful. It was the highlight of their day.

Everyone would retire to their own area to read through their messages and have some quiet time before attempting sleep. Jim couldn’t have been more proud of his crew on both sides of the situation. His away team was holding up admirably, and the crew on the ship was working hard to find any way to reach them through the storm. Transporters were useless.

As the days passed, Kirk even developed a routine for going through his messages. He would start with Spock’s. It always began the same way: “Captain, though I realize you may not be receiving these messages, I feel it is important to make an attempt to keep you updated on the status of the ship, crew, and rescue efforts.” The rest of the message would be dry but thorough. Kirk was always impressed with the creative solutions his people were trying. Scotty would sometimes send a message of his own, explaining the latest crazy idea he had come up with and how wrong it had gone. Next, he would read through any official messages from Starfleet, even though he knew Spock was replying to them right now. It helped him stay connected.

Third, he would read through any miscellaneous messages from the crew. Occasionally Uhura, Chekov, or Sulu would send a few encouraging words. But sometimes it was crew members he wasn’t overly familiar with yet. They were restrained and formal, but it still meant the world to him that they cared enough to try. He filed all of their names away, so he could thank them all in person when he got back to the ship.

Jim wasn’t sure why, but he always saved the message from Bones for last. Some days, there would be more than one. Bones had a masterful way of encouraging him while still managing to be insulting: “I’m sure you’re managing to keep everything together down there, even if you denied my last three requests to increase the standard medical supplies for an away team. I know you’ll take care of everyone, and forget about yourself. You always make sure I have my work cut out for me.”

The messages from Bones never failed to make Jim smile. And as the days continued, he found that he needed that. But he also found that the tone of the messages from Bones was starting to change. They became less jovial and more concerned: “Better NOT be injured … thought you drove me crazy when you were HERE … crew’s worried about you …”

Jim wished that he could write back. It almost made the messages hard to read. They tested communications every day, but nothing was getting through. Sometimes he would even find himself typing half of a response before he erased it. Instead, he thought about what he wanted to say.

_Bones, I’m fine. Stop worrying so much, or you’ll give yourself an ulcer. Everything’s under control here. It sucks, but we’re okay. The crew needs you, so try to stop worrying about me._

Unfortunately, he could not spontaneously develop telepathy.

The second week of their captivity saw the same routine, but it was becoming slightly more difficult to keep the crew’s spirits up. Jim wished he could send a message to the Enterprise, if only to ask for more messages to be sent.

Jim flopped back onto his “bunk,” picking up his PADD with a sigh. He scratched a hand through his beard, imagining Bones laughing at him for it when he got back. He realized he probably didn’t smell too good either. They allotted some of the water for washing, but as they all only had the clothes on their backs and had to sleep in the dirt, there was only so much they could do.

Before even glancing at the day’s incoming messages, Jim started to compose one.  
 _  
Hey, Bones. Man, if you could see me right now, you would fling me in a sonic shower faster than I could blink. It’s kinda gross. But we can’t really afford to think about it right now. We just have to keep on … keepin’ on, I guess. It’s probably a good thing you didn’t come down here with us, but it would be nice to have a doctor on hand. Thornton and Adams aren’t hurt too bad, but we don’t have any regenerators to patch them up properly._

_But if I let myself be selfish, I just wish you were here period. I miss you._

Jim saved the message this time instead of deleting it and went on to read his daily mail. When he got to Bones’ letter, his heart contracted: “I know I shouldn’t let myself think like this, but I can’t help worrying that you won’t come back, Jim. Or, if not now, some other away mission on some other godforsaken rock. And I’ll think about all the chances I missed … Ah, hell, Spock said there’s only a 0.5% chance you’re getting this anyway. I miss you, Jim. You’re a complete pain in the ass, but I miss you. I keep hoping that you’re going to poke your head into Sickbay to annoy me any minute. Why do you do that, anyway? Shit, all sorts of questions are starting to come into my head, because you’re not here to keep my mind occupied with your stupid antics.”

Jim paused in his reading. With nothing else to do and nowhere else to go, he forced himself to stop and think about _why_ he did harass his best friend so much. It wasn’t necessary for the Captain of a starship to make a daily check-in with Sickbay. But deep down, he knew how much it would bother them both if he stopped. He thought about how he always made sure to let Bones know if he had to cancel for dinner, and Bones always extended the same courtesy. And if Bones had a particularly long day, he always made sure to drop by his quarters to share a drink.

 _Isn’t that what friends do?_ he asked himself. _And if he falls asleep in the middle of it, wouldn’t a good friend make sure he gets to bed? And … stay if he has a bad dream …_ His thoughts drifted off as realization dawned on him. _Maybe that’s … more than friends. But what does that mean?_ He went back to Bones’ message.

“Just get back here, Jim. The crew needs you, this ship needs you, and damn it, I need you.”

Jim let the PADD fall against his chest, staring up at the ceiling of the cave. After a moment, he started to type a response.

_Aw, Bones, who knew you were such a softie underneath it all? Don’t worry about me. I’ll be back soon, and we can resume our regularly scheduled programming of me driving you nuts. Of course you need me. Who else would take that job?_

Jim chewed on his lip. _Should I just laugh it off like that?_ he wondered. He deleted the half-written message and tried again.

_Come on, Bones. You know that if I didn’t keep your mind occupied with my “stupid antics,” you’d be even more grouchy than you are now. I mean, would it really kill you to smile slightly more often? I like it when you smile._

Jim stared at what he had written and quickly deleted it. “What am I saying?” he muttered. His brain helpfully provided him with vivid memories of the few times he had seen Bones really smile. He shook his head. _Friends? Or more than friends? What should I say?_

He set down the PADD. If he could say what he felt, it would be one simple thing.

_I need you too, Bones._

~~~

Jim was a little nervous when he went to read Bones’ message the next night. He had been thinking about their relationship all day and was slightly frightened by the conclusions he was drawing. He had never let himself care about anyone the way he cared about Bones.

He pushed his own thoughts aside and started to read. He stopped almost immediately, checking his PADD to make sure that he had opened the right message. When he was sure that he had, he hesitantly opened the message again. What he read was a shockingly detailed description of … himself: “…way your eyes light up whenever we go to warp, like a kid at Christmas … bluest eyes I’ve ever seen … damn habit of licking your bottom lip … the muscles on your …”

Jim stopped again. _Has he lost it? And … how closely has he been watching me…_ His thoughts trailed off as images of Bones started to flood his mind. He realized that he could recall the same minute level of detail about his friend, and that he might be guilty of savoring it in exactly the same way. His surgeon’s hands, his cupid bow mouth, the way he could scowl and still look concerned at the same time – Jim licked his bottom lip just thinking about it.

After a moment, he read through the whole message, his chest feeling oddly warm that Bones had been watching him intently enough to notice these things. When he reached the end of the lengthy message, it concluded with: “If you are reading this Jim, I’m sorry. I’m just trying to keep from going crazy up here, so I started listing the things I miss about you. Guess it’s a lot. More than I thought. And I don’t think it takes a genius to figure out what this means. Come back soon, darlin’.”

Jim let the PADD fall against his chest as he had the night before. He smiled into the darkness. He could almost hear Bones murmuring the endearment to him, and the thought of it sent his pulse racing. _Damn it, Bones. What are you doing to me?_

~~~

During the next day, it became abundantly clear exactly what Bones was doing to him: driving him nuts. Jim couldn’t stop thinking about him; the hours of the day passed agonizingly slowly. He wanted the next letter – he wanted to know what would happen and how it would make him feel.

When the messages arrived, he ignored all the others and read Bones’ first.

“Jim, there are times when I dream about being able to talk to you like this, just being able to tell you how I feel without constantly worrying about messing up our friendship.

“I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve wanted to kiss that impertinent little smirk off your face. And if I follow that train of thought to its inevitable conclusion, yeah I’ll admit that I’ve thought about doing other things to you, too. I don’t know if I’d be your speed, Jim, from what I’ve seen. I’d want to take it slow, like a Southern gentleman should. And by slow, I mean teasing and tasting until the heat builds like a hot summer night, until you’re mewling like a kitten in my arms for more.”

Jim abruptly stopped reading as he realized that heat had shot directly to his groin. There was not even close to enough privacy in the cave to take care of that without someone knowing. “Damn it, Bones,” he growled, trying to control his reaction. After a few minutes, he went back to reading.

“I know it’s not my place to judge, but sometimes I wonder if you’ve ever had that, Jim. Had someone be gentle with you … treat you like you’re special. Because, believe me, you are. And if you ever found yourself in my arms, I would make sure you knew it. And I don’t mean ‘special’ as in ‘Starfleet hero.’ You’d be special without all that. God, I’m getting way too sentimental. I don’t know if I can hold off taking a shot of bourbon instead of writing this.

“But I can’t. I have to be sober and alert. Because you could be back any minute. And you could be hurt. And if you are, I’ll fix it, like I always do, darlin’.”

Jim read the last part of the message over a few times, a smile pulling at his lips. _I know you can always fix me, Bones. But you can’t fix what you’ve done to me. And I think … I’m okay with that._

~~~

The next day – day 18 of their captivity – the storm finally began to pass, and spotty communications were re-established with the Enterprise.

Kirk immediately sprang into action, getting status updates from all over the ship and giving a full status report of the away team and ambassadors. Spock informed him that transporter capabilities would be restored in a matter of hours. He got to talk to Bones briefly, giving him a rundown of the injuries and living conditions. Bones told him that he would make sure the ship’s lighting was lowered, so they wouldn’t be blinded the second they beamed back on board.

It was infuriating to finally be able to talk to his friend but not _say_ anything. _Does he even know his messages got through?_ In the flurry of activity to prepare for departure, no one had mentioned it. Hours later, their meager camp and supplies had been packed up. He gave a short speech to the group, congratulating them on their conduct and thanking them for being patient.

They transported the injured up first, followed by the ambassadors. The remaining crew members encouraged Kirk to go, but he refused and insisted on going last.

He was slightly disappointed that Bones wasn’t waiting in the transporter room, but he figured he was already in Sickbay with the injured crew members.

Spock stepped forward, hands clasped behind his back. “Captain, welcome back.”

“Thanks, Spock.”

“Doctor McCoy is requiring all returning crew members to report to Sickbay immediately.”

Kirk frowned. “Is something wrong?”

“All crewmembers are suffering from mild malnutrition. Dr. McCoy has ordered an exam before everyone returns to quarters.”

Kirk nodded. “Okay, fair enough.” Spock accompanied him on the walk to Sickbay, filling him in on everything he had missed while he was gone.

“Once the ambassadors have recovered, I will make arrangements to transport them back to the surface,” Spock concluded just as they reached the door.

Jim nodded. “Thanks, Spock. I appreciate it.”

Spock inclined his head. “Captain.”

Jim followed the other crewmen into Sickbay as Spock returned to the bridge. He blinked in the slightly brighter light. Sickbay was crowded with crew members. Triage stations had been set up, but everyone was merely being scanned and given nutrient hyposprays. As all of the medical staff were busy, Jim went around the room, checking in with each crew member. He could hear Bones on the other end of the room, overseeing the treatment of Thornton and Adams. His heart leapt into his throat. Did Bones know that his messages had been read? He shook his head and forced himself to relax.

He knew Bones had finally noticed him when he heard, “Damn it, Jim! What the hell are you doing? Sit down!”

Jim grinned sheepishly at his CMO. “Everyone was busy, so I was just checking in with –“

He was cut off as Bones grabbed his arm and dragged him to the nearest biobed. “Sit.”

Jim hopped up onto the bed and let Bones scan him.

“Hmph. Worse than the others. Typical.”

“What’s the diagnosis? Is everyone okay?”

“Thornton and Adams will be fine. Lacerations are just about healed up. You’re all protein deficient. Starfleet needs to improve those emergency rations.”

“Other than that?”

“Other than that, everyone just needs to rest and stay away from harsh lighting for a few hours.” He injected Jim with a nutrient supplement. “That includes you. You’re off duty for the next twenty-four hours which you need to spend resting. And no heavy reading either.”

Jim raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think that’s a problem. We’ve all had plenty to read over the past eighteen days.”

Bones’ hands stilled. “What?”

“The messages from the Enterprise got through. You haven’t heard?”

Bones’ face turned red. “No. I hadn’t heard.”

“It was great. Helped keep everyone’s spirits up.” He paused before adding, “Mine included.”

Bones cleared his throat nervously. “I hope you didn’t take it seriously. I was just rambling, tryin’ to keep myself from turning to drink –“

Jim cut him off by grabbing his forearm lightly. “Bones.”

“Jim, not _here_ ,” Bones pleaded urgently, finally meeting his eyes.

Jim released his arm. “Okay.”

“Besides, you look like shit. Go shower and shave and get some rest.”

Before Jim could reply, Bones was gone, having moved on to the next patient.

~~~

Hours later, Jim Kirk was pleased to be clean, shaved and back in his own dry bed. He hadn’t realized how damp that damn cave had been. He was, however, annoyed. Bones was avoiding his comms, and he knew that the good Doctor’s shift had been over for a while.

Finally, he picked up his PADD and started to write. He imagined himself in Bones’ shoes, not knowing if he would ever see his best friend again. _More than friends_ , he reminded himself. He wrote down everything he had been thinking but hadn’t put in an actual message:

_I’m not gonna lie to you, Bones, and say that I wasn’t surprised when I got your messages. But when I stopped and thought about it … I realized that I feel the same way about you. I love the way you always take care of me, even if it’s because of some stupid thing I did. But that’s not why I missed you, Bones. I didn’t miss you because of what you do for me. I missed you because of how you make me feel. Hell, I just missed you._

_It was a little weird to find out that you’ve been watching me, but you should know … I’ve been watching you, too. I can’t help it. Any time we’re in a room together, I notice all these stupid, little things about you and file them away. I didn’t even realize I was doing it._

_So, what does all this mean? Hell if I know. I just wanted to tell you that I appreciated the notes, and … if you want to start calling me “darlin’,” it’s more than okay with me, Bones. Don’t stay away long. Eighteen days was way too long already._

The second Jim finished writing, he hit send.

He set the PADD down and lay back, folding his hands behind his head.

Almost exactly fifteen minutes later, his door chimed. “Come on in, Bones.”

The doors slid open and a moment later, McCoy was standing in his bedroom; his face was flushed.

“I see you got my note,” Jim said, sitting up slowly.

Bones smiled and crossed the room. He stopped in front of Jim and cupped the side of Jim’s face. “Yeah, darlin’. Message received.” He leaned down and kissed Jim gently.

 _No more words needed_ , Jim thought as he eagerly kissed back. 

[](http://pics.livejournal.com/kimuracarter/pic/0000k1q5/)

**Author's Note:**

> Beta: [](http://redheadaholic.livejournal.com/profile)[**redheadaholic**](http://redheadaholic.livejournal.com/)  
>  Banner by [](http://hitlikehammers.livejournal.com/profile)[**hitlikehammers**](http://hitlikehammers.livejournal.com/)
> 
> The same prompt, written from Bones' POV can be found [here](http://winterover.livejournal.com/3917.html#cutid1), written by [](http://winterover.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://winterover.livejournal.com/)**winterover**. Enjoy!  
> 


End file.
